Immigration Changes 2019

Changes in 2019.

If you are planning to apply for a permanent residency visa for Australia before or after 16 Nov 2019 then look at the below-mentioned changes:

From 1st July 2019

• Department fees increased.
• Skilled places for the year 2019-2020 is reduced to 160,000. This will also affect family visas such as partner visa and parent visa. Partner visas for the year 2019-20 are now reduced to 39799 from the previous figure of 47825. Parent visas places are now reduced to 7371 from the previous figure of 8675. The current que of contributory has a waiting period of around 36 months and due to the reduced places it is expected to increase in near future. Same will be applicable to Partner visa in 2019. Click here to see 2019 planning level.

• Regional State sponsorship is now open.
• Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMA) program is now available for WA Goldfields, Regional South Australia, Adelaide City, Orana NSW, Far South Coast along with previous approval of whole NT and Great South Coast (VIC).
• The email sponsored.skilled@homeaffairs.gov.au has been closed from 1 July 2019 and changed to a new consolidated email for temporary and permanent employer sponsored visas.
• The Global Talent – Initiative Program commenced in Dec 2018 has a new name as Global Talent – Independent from July 2019.
• Employer-sponsored visas for General practitioners (GP), Resident Medical Officer and Medical Practitioners nec must have a Health Work Force Certificate from Rural Workforce Agency and should be submitted with the application. This initiative will direct doctors into areas that have lower access to services such as rural, remote and regional areas of Australia.

Prepare yourself before 16 Nov 2019 changes

• 489 (Skilled – Regional (Provisional)) visa (Subclass 489) will change to 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) from 16 Nov 2019.
• 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme) visa is also known as RSMS will change to 494 (Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional)). This will be a temporary visa instead of permanent from 16 Nov 2019. We will publish a detailed video on our Youtube channel soon on this.
• The Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489) visa will cease at 11:59 pm on 15 November 2019. So no application can be lodged after this date even if you have a valid invitation.
• Last invitations from states for 489 visas are expected to be issued before 10 Sep 2019.
• A new EOI can be lodged for 491 visa from 16 Nov 2019.
• New Point test will be applicable from 16 Nov 2019.
• Students studying in regional areas or applicants living and working in a regional area will have brighter chances.
• New Changes are expected to come this year for Partner Visas. We will publish a newsletter and video on our Youtube channel soon.

No changes to the following

• 189 and 190 visa subclasses will remain unaffected before and after 16 Nov 2019.

General Information

• A child born in Australia holds the same visa as parents were holding. It is the responsibility of the parents to inform the child’s birth immediately even before getting the child passport. Please note that this is not an automatic visa so travelling without informing the Department may lead to complications.